The city of Macau, or 澳门 (aomen) in Chinese, is both the first and last European colony in China. Established by Portugal in 1557, it has since become a major attraction for gambling and tourism. For those of us at Concordia Language Villages’ Callaway location, it is a rare mixing of Chinese and Portuguese culture. Earlier this week, Sen Lin Hu and Mar e Floresta organized a Macau casino and carnival night to bring everyone at our new site together. Our theater room was turned into a casino floor with Blackjack and Poker, as well as a tradition Chinese dice game. The Portuguese organized carnival games as well, for those more interest in skill than luck. Everyone was given Macau money as they arrived, and cabins pooled winnings together at an auction the next day for prizes ranging from a pinata to sleeping in with breakfast in bed.
Yesterday was a big day for our 四个星期学生 (sige xingqi xuesheng, four week campers). For the past week or so, they had been preparing for their final 表演 (biaoyan, presentation). This, along with the test they take today, counts for a good deal of the credit they get at Sen Lin Hu this summer. Each presentation, which ranged from a Chinese Ellen DeGeneres interview to a puppet show, took about ten minutes, showing off all our villagers have learned over these four weeks. Check out the gallery of their presentations below.
The title says it all. Our Chinese village has been terribly busy over the weekend, with non-stop activity. After a normal day of classes on Saturday, a banquet was held for dinner. Among the many special dishes, villagers ate 饺子 (jiaozi, dumpings), which were prepared by villagers who participated in this week’s cooking class. With the help of villagers and counselors alike, we hand made over 2,000 饺子. At the dance later that evening, we were joined by our Portuguese neighbors and they shared some of their amazing dance moves with us.
Sunday brought both rest and thought to villagers at Sen Lin Hu. After a well deserved sleep-in and later breakfast, villagers helped clean up our campsite and their cabins. When done, cabins met and discussed their 希望 (xiwang), wishes for the world. A break from traditional Chinese food, we had lunch at the camp’s grilling pavilion with a vast 烤肉 (kaorou, cookout). In the evening, we again met with Mar e Floresta at our evening campfire, sharing not only our wishes for the world, but favorite songs of our two villages.
As the new week begins, we return to our regular routine, with exciting activities every morning. Check out some photos in the gallery below.
Every morning after 早饭 (zaofan, breakfast) villagers split up into their 上午活动 (shangwu huodong, morning activity) groups. Activities include mountain biking, ultimate frisbee, Chinese music playing, kung fu, basketball, archery, among others. Villagers pick they activity they participate in and switch every three days. All activities are taught in Chinese – a great testament to our clever villagers who pick up the rules and concepts very quickly. Check out pictures of our first cycle of activities below.
At Sen Lin Hu, we eat 午饭 (wufan, lunch) and 晚饭 (wanfan, dinner) with our 家 (jia, family). These 家 are made up of villagers from all different cabins and language classes, giving everyone an opportunity to meet and spend time with others they might not otherwise get a chance to see. As our new 两个星期学生 (two week campers) joined us yesterday, we switched up the families and got to know each other. Here’s an album of all the 家 at dinner this evening.
We are currently experiencing a few technical difficulties with the blog and the hardware used for posting. They are being addressed as quickly as possible and we hope to have photos up by this evening and videos soon to follow. We are very sorry about this inconvenience.
Update: Our technical issues have been resolved so we’re back on track, hoping to have photos of dinner up soon after we eat. Thanks for your understanding!
Yesterday marked the first day for our new two week villagers at Sen Lin Hu. After meeting their new families, we played name games and went off to dinner. The evening concluded the exhausting day of arrival activities with cabin chants at the campfire.
Today, our new villagers will make their way around the grounds visiting everything from the lake side to the dinning room, finding out more about how our daily activities work. There is a great feeling of excitement in the air at Sen Lin Hu right now – along with the humidity.
你好 Ni hao from Sen Lin Hu! On Monday, we welcomed several one-week campers to our village, and since that time they have continuously brightened the camp with their energy and cheerfulness. The older campers love having little brothers and sisters around, and the younger campers have fun being adopted for a week by their friends, counselors, and older peers. We will be quite sad when our one-week and two-week campers head home on Saturday!
Last night, our campers had a fashion show with a Chinese twist. The show featured different styles of 旗袍 qipao, or traditional Chinese dresses, and also minority clothing. After the catwalks, the Kung Fu group performed in costume. Here are some snapshots from the event!
Also, here is a glimpse into our different afternoon activities classes. Students have their afternoon activities with their small-group language classes. Our creditors had 自习课 zixike, or study hall, in preparation for their coming midterm this weekend. Take a look!
森林湖之路 (SenLinHu ZhiLu) literally means SenLinHu’s Road – but it means much more to us at the Chinese village. SenLinHu ZhiLu is the way back to SenLinHu and the great times we have here. We have many short one-verse songs about eating and swimming and going to the snack shop, but SenLinHu ZhiLu is the one song every camper knows best, humming to themselves long after they return home. Here are our villagers enjoying the shade and the company of each other, joining in song.
At Sen Lin Hu, we have a campfire every night! It is a great chance to relax and sing songs together before heading off to our cabins for cabin meetings and bed. Below are some campfire photos.
Also, the problem with the previous photo album is now fixed, and all photos should be both viewable and downloadable. If you still have problems viewing or downloading the photos in this album or any others, please try updating your browser or using a different one (e.g. IE, Firefox, Safari, Chrome). If these methods don’t solve the problem, please shoot us an email and let us know. Thanks!
In 2011, the Qatar Foundation International (QFI) provided Concordia Language Villages with substantial scholarships for children and teachers interested in Arabic. QFI has continued their support of Al-WāHa in 2012 by providing scholarships that are still available for any child or … […]
The city of Macau, or 澳门 (aomen) in Chinese, is both the first and last European colony in China. Established by Portugal in 1557, it has since become a major attraction for gambling and tourism. For those of us at Concordia Language Villages’ Callaway location, it is a rare mixing of Chinese and Portuguese culture. Earlier this week, Sen Lin Hu and Mar e Floresta organized a Macau casino and carnival night to bring everyone at our new site together. Our theater room was turned into a casino floor with Blackjack and Poker, as well as a tradition Chinese dice game. The Portuguese organized carnival games as well, for those more interest in skill than luck. Everyone was given Macau money as they arrived, and cabins pooled winnings together at an auction the next day for prizes ranging from a pinata to sleeping in with breakfast in bed.
